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Thomas Dorr and his Times

Diary of a Soldier in the Dorr War, May 17 to July 2, 1842
2 years ago

Diary of a Soldier in the Dorr War, May 17 to July 2, 1842

[Editor’s note: This is a typed transcript of an original diary penned by Edward L. Peckham. It was transcribed from the original by Robert Grandchamp. The diary is titled “Diary …
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“Third Century of Liberty”?: Thomas Wilson Dorr and Debate over the Gag Rule in Rhode Island, 1835-1836
2 years ago

“Third Century of Liberty”?: Thomas Wilson Dorr and Debate over the Gag Rule in Rhode Island, 1835-1836

[Note from the authors: The essay that follows is a condensed version of a longer essay that is to accompany a major addition to the Dorr Rebellion Project (at http://library.providence.edu/dorr/) …
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The Canonization of Thomas Wilson Dorr
3 years ago

The Canonization of Thomas Wilson Dorr

In 1912 a third edition of Jacob Frieze’s book, A Concise History of Efforts to Obtain an Extension of Suffrage in Rhode Island; from 1811 to 1842, was reprinted by …
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The Constitutional Party in Rhode Island, 1834 -1837
4 years ago

The Constitutional Party in Rhode Island, 1834 -1837

Rhode Island has frequently had third parties appear in its statewide elections. Almost always these parties had a single purpose, whether Anti-Masonic, Liberty (opposed to the expansion of slavery), American/Know-Nothing …
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Brotherly Love: Thomas and Allen Dorr at Phillips Exeter Academy
10 years ago

Brotherly Love: Thomas and Allen Dorr at Phillips Exeter Academy

In 1824, several months after he graduated from Harvard College, Thomas Wilson Dorr (1805-1854), the son of a prominent Providence, Rhode Island merchant, entered into a philosophical debate with his …
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Tom Dorr: Up Close and Personal
10 years ago

Tom Dorr: Up Close and Personal

Back in the late 1970s, while exercising shared custody of my four oldest children in the wake of a failed first marriage, my Sundays were a time for visits …
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The People’s Martyr
10 years ago

The People’s Martyr

The People’s Martyr, by Erik J. Chaput (Lawrence, Kansas:  University Press of Kansas, 2013)

“The Rhode Island Question,” otherwise known as the Dorr Rebellion of 1842, is one of the …
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